Lars-Johan Peter Eriksson (born 3 August 1958) is a Swedish politician who served as Minister for International Development Cooperation from January 2019 to December 2020. He previously served as Minister for Housing and Digital Development from 2016 to 2019 and was a member of Swedish Parliament (1994-1998 and 2002-2014) and European Parliament 2014-2016. Between 2002 to 2011, he was spokesperson for the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

Political career

Early beginnings

Eriksson began his political career in Kalix,

Norrbotten Norrbotten (), known in English as North Bothnia, is a Swedish province (''landskap'') in northernmost Sweden. It borders south to Västerbotten, west to Swedish Lapland, and east to Finland. Administration The traditional provinces of Swe ...

, where he was Municipal Commissioner from 1999 to 2004. He was also member of the

Riksdag The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and se ...

1994–1998 and 2002–2014. Between 2002 and 2011, Eriksson was one of the two

spokesperson A spokesperson, spokesman, or spokeswoman, is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others. Duties and function In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have receiv ...

s (leaders) of the

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

, working alongside Maria Wetterstrand. Under their leadership, the party notably abandoned a demand in its manifesto that calls for Sweden to leave the EU.

Member of the European Parliament, 2014–2016

Eriksson was a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

from July 2014 to May 2016, where he served on the

Committee on Industry, Research and Energy The Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its areas of responsibility relate to industry, especially technology-intensive manufacturing, information technology, and telecommunications. It also ...

. In addition to his committee assignments, he was part of the Parliament's delegations to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, the EU-Moldova Parliamentary Association Committee, and the

Euronest Parliamentary Assembly The Euronest Parliamentary Assembly is the inter-parliamentary forum in which members of the European Parliament and the national parliaments of Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia participate and forge closer political and economic ...

. Within the

Greens–European Free Alliance The Greens/European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) is a political group of the European Parliament composed primarily of green and regionalist political parties. Formed following the 1999 European elections for the 5th European Parliament, t ...

, he served as group's vice-chair under the leadership of co-chairs Ska Keller and Philippe Lamberts.

Return to Sweden

Eriksson served as Minister for Housing and Digital Development from May 2016 to January 2019. In the 2019 cabinet reshuffle, he was appointed Minister for International Development Cooperation. In this capacity, he pledged a total of approximately US$290 million in contributions of Sweden to

Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (or simply the Global Fund) is an international financing and partnership organization that aims to "attract, leverage and invest additional resources to end the epidemics of HIV/AIDS, t ...

for the 2020-2022 period. On 17 December 2020, Peter Eriksson announced his resignation from the cabinet with immediate effect.

Other activities

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inter ...

, Ex-Officio Alternate Member of the Board of Governors (since 2019)

Honours

Foreign honours

* : Knight Grand Cross of the

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic ( it, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana) is the senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking ...

(14 January 2019)

References

Peter Eriksson
at the

website

External links

Peter Eriksson
blog {{DEFAULTSORT:Eriksson, Peter 1958 births Green Party (Sweden) MEPs Leaders of political parties in Sweden Living people Male feminists Members of the Riksdag 1994–1998 Members of the Riksdag 1998–2002 Members of the Riksdag 2002–2006 Members of the Riksdag 2006–2010 Members of the Riksdag 2010–2014 Members of the Riksdag from the Green Party MEPs for Sweden 2014–2019 Municipal commissioners of Sweden People from Tranås Municipality Sommar (radio program) hosts Swedish bloggers Swedish feminists Swedish Ministers for Housing